


The Ones Closest To You

by IronBitch35730 (Ayita35730)



Series: City of Shadows [7]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alfred is tired, F/M, M/M, and deserves more honestly, and jim is still a dummy just for the record, bruce is a sad boy with a sad love life, hes not in this but it needs to be said - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25206193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayita35730/pseuds/IronBitch35730
Summary: Alfred Pennyworth's take on Bruce Wayne and Jeremiah Valeska.A part of a series of relationships on Gotham.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Jeremiah Valeska/Bruce Wayne
Series: City of Shadows [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1737664
Kudos: 50





	The Ones Closest To You

Alfred Pennyworth hates Gotham.

He’s never understood the allure the city has for Bruce.

The filthy streets, the people, and their agendas. 

He’s watched it devour goddamn souls,

This place has a way of sinking its claws into people. Everyone gets twisted and tainted and bloody ruined by this forsaken place. He’s watched it take hold of the Waynes, now in two generations. He’s failed them twice over now and while he could never be anything but proud of Bruce Wayne, he will never stop mourning the life he could have had, without this city weighing so heavy on his shoulders. 

But that’s who his boy is—he’d never think to change him.

And this city has a fixation on Bruce.

Galavan wanted his blood.

Gordon wanted a living martyr.

The Valeskas wanted…

They wanted something different, especially that Jeremiah. 

The way he looked at Bruce made Alfred’s blood run cold. There was something  _ wrong _ about it. Something vile and ruinous and oddly— devoted. He called Bruce his best friend, but there’s more to it than that. He’s beyond obsessed with the boy, he’s infatuated, in the worst way. Before Jerome was able to poison Jerimiah there was a connection between the two, something kindred. A budding affection, possibly. 

Bruce might love Selina Kyle, but he was  _ fascinated _ by Valeska.

(Perhaps Jeremiah shot her for more than one reason.) 

After they met he was constantly on Bruce’s mind. He would discuss Jermiah’s intellect, his kindness, his long lived fear. He saw a boy who had grown so disillusioned with the world he severed himself from it, and that resonated with him. Alfred knows how lonely Bruce has been. He tried, but he can never walk amongst his peers again and share the lives they lead. He’s marked now, by pain, by suffering, by something unnamed that he can’t seem to shake—something dark and dangerous that forced a bright young boy with the world at his feet to a life of solitude and responsibility. 

Alfred can see why he grew so attracted to Jerimiah, why he was so determined to help him. Jeremiah’s demon was a physical being, one that could be defeated. Bruce saw the someone he could save from his fate.

And maybe he thought he could save himself as well. 

In Bruce, Jeremiah saw freedom. It was obvious in the relief in the boys eyes every time he saw Bruce that he felt safe in presence. Because of Bruce he would finally be able to live his life without the constant and all-consuming fear that had dominated his existence. He saw Bruce as his own personal haven, a chance to come back to the world, to himself. 

Then Jeremiah fell to pieces and like a funhouse mirror and Bruce, he put himself back together. Because he had to. Alfred saw the guilt in his eyes, the anger, the  _ loss _ . His heart ached for the boy, but there was nothing to be done. Jeremiah was gone and what was left was Bruce’s responsibility. He owed that to his friend. 

But Jeremiah didn’t completely vanish. It was obvious he loved Bruce still, in some way. It drove him to hurt him, to torture him, to want him  _ close _ because the creature that Jeremiah became can’t understand the feelings that linger for Bruce Wayne and monsters can’t be in love. And the bond between them now can never be severed. They are a part of each other, they changed each other and nothing Alfred can do can tear Jeremiah’s claws out of his boy. 

They’ll do their dance and they’ll say their lines and  _ remember _ .

Bruce will mourn, and perhaps Jeremiah will too (even if it looks like rage), what they could have been together, what they could have been to each other.

But they both belong to the city now. They’re now just two more of Gotham’s creations, two chapters in a long and dark story. So Alfred will think of two boys that might have been something a bit more than friends once.

And he’ll continue to hate this city until the day it kills him. 


End file.
